-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- World No. 2 Roger Federer reached the semifinals of the Paris Masters for the first time in his long and illustrious career with a straight-sets victory over Austria 's Jurgen Melzer on Friday .

The top seed in the absence of the injured Rafael Nadal , Federer had previously never made it past the last-eight stage -- where he was eliminated in 2002 , 2003 and 2008 .

It is the second time he has beaten a frustrating run in the capital , having ended his long wait for a first French Open title on clay at Roland Garros last year .

The Swiss star , a 16-time Grand Slam champion who has won 65 career titles , defeated 11th seed Melzer for the third time this season following straight-sets victories at Wimbledon and the US Open .

The 29-year-old triumphed 6-1 7-6 -LRB- 7-4 -RRB- against the French Open semifinalist to set up a Saturday showdown with last year 's losing finalist Gael Monfils , who upset world No. 4 Andy Murray in front of a jubilant home crowd in the late match .

`` I thought I served well the whole match , '' Federer told the ATP website after firing 18 aces , his best in a two-set match .

`` I think in the second he was able play a bit more solid overall , and I think he served a bit better . Top guys rarely just go through two sets not having a sniff at all . His sniff was in the breaker when he hit two good returns to go 2-1 in a mini-break , really . ''

French 12th seed Monfils lost the opening game to love but broke Murray on the Scot 's next turn at serve before going on to seal a 6-2 2-6 6-3 victory .

Monfils will be seeking to stop Federer 's bid to win a third successive ATP event as he bids to emulate last year 's feat , when he made it to the title match before losing to Novak Djokovic .

The other semifinal of the indoor hardcourt tournament will be fought out by fourth seed Robin Soderling and dark horse Michael Llodra , who knocked out Djokovic on Thursday .

Soderling saw off American eighth seed Andy Roddick , with the Swede winning 7-5 6-4 against a player he will line up with at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London later this month .

He reached the last four at Paris-Bercy for the first time , having ended a run of two three-set defeats to Roddick in the U.S. earlier this year .

`` I just did n't feel sharp - everything was very basic , '' Roddick told the ATP website . `` I played one good point , one bad point . The basics were n't there as much as they have been in the past couple of weeks , which is disappointing . ''

World No. 34 Llodra , France 's fourth-ranked player , boosted his chances of being picked for next month 's Davis Cup final against Serbia as he continued his dream run this week .

The first unseeded semifinalist since 2007 , the left-hander defeated Russian 10th seed and 2006 champion Nikolay Davydenko 7-5 6-1 .

The 30-year-old fought back from 4-2 down in the first set to win 11 of the next 13 games .

`` I needed to play serve-and-volley because he was returning very well , '' Llodra said . `` I was very lucid on break-points . When I had opportunities , I tried to be aggressive . I think today it was more mental victory than a tennis victory . ''

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Roger Federer had previously lost all three of his quarterfinals at Paris Masters

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The 29-year-old beats Jurgen Melzer to set up clash with last year 's runner-up Gael Monfils

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Fourth seed Robin Soderling will play dark horse Michael Llodra in other semifinal

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Frenchman Llodra became the first unseeded player to reach last four since 2007